Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

The gameplay mechanics make this hack-first-think-later game not only a joy to play, but also a blast to replay

The gameplay mechanics make this hack-first-think-later game not only a joy to play, but also a blast to replay.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has had quite a troubled journey. A spin-off from the ever-popular Metal Gear Solid series, the game was initially under development at Kojima Productions, the studio the franchise calls home. After a year or so of the game making no progress, it was boldly passed onto an external studio – Platinum Games, who’ve made quite a name for themselves with games like Bayonetta and Vanquish. This probably wasn’t how Hideo Kojima initially thought things would pan out, but had it not, Revengeance might not have been nearly as special as it is.

While the Metal Gear Solid games were rooted in stealth and followed the exploits of the legendary Snake, Metal Gear Rising is all-out action. In Revengeance, you play as cyborg ninja Raiden, whom series fans might remember from MGS2 and (more fondly) from MGS4. The plot follows the familiar political theme from previous games, and it does a decent job of keeping you interested all the way through, but that’s really not why you’ll want to pick up Revengeance. The meat is in its gameplay and design.

Action games nowadays are getting shorter and shorter, but no action game in recent memory has managed to cram in as much insane quality into its single-player mode as Revengeance does. From start to finish, the pace is frenetic and unrelenting, and there’s no filler material to speak of. From the time the game was first announced, its hook was the ability to let you slice and dice enemies into numerous shapes and sizes of your choosing before their lifeless bodies hit the floor. While that is immensely enjoyable, there are several other gameplay mechanics at play here that not only make Revengeance a joy to play, but also a blast to replay. There are so many ways to dispatch each enemy offensive that the first time you do it, you’ll want to do it again in a more brutal and stylish, because the game will let you do that. This is what Platinum Games does best. Add to that the new styles and abilities that you pick up along the way, and your second go-around can be a complete different experience than your first.

Revengeance might be all flash and style, but the core combat mechanics are sound, placing an equal emphasis on defence and offense. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that combat here is tactical; Raiden doesn’t have a cautious bone (or metal) in his body. It’s slice first and think later, so much so that even his parries only serve to set up more brutal attacks. To inflict further carnage, there’s Blade Mode, which temporary lets you enter slow-motion, allowing you to target enemies with more precision and brutality. And it never gets old.

MGS games are known for their boss battles and the variety between them, and Revengeance doesn’t disappoint in that regard. You’ll also find the sometimes weird humour that Kojima is famous for. The only real negative here is the wonky camera angles that occasionally suck the fun out of the game, but these instances are sporadic. Look beyond that and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a wonderful blend of the Metal Gear universe and over-the-top action that is Platinum Games’ hallmark. This is what Metal Gear Rising should have been from the very beginning, and I’m glad that this is how it ended up.